Mail Tribune 100

Attorney W.J. Canton was bound over by Justice of the Peace Dox at Jacksonville this morning to the grand jury, under $1,000 bonds, upon a charge of criminal depravity.

Attorney W.J. Canton was bound over by Justice of the Peace Dox at Jacksonville this morning to the grand jury, under $1,000 bonds, upon a charge of criminal depravity.

The defense, conducted by Attorney Gus Newbury, was based upon the alibi that Mr. Canton was eating lunch in Jacksonville a half mile away at the time of the alleged crime, and that upon the day in question, he wore a light suit and Panama hat instead of a black hat and dark suit. A general denial of the charge was made by Major Canton.

The state introduced two witnesses, Isaac Coffman, the alleged victim, who alleged he received 15 cents from Major Canton, and told of the crime. In contradiction of this, the defense declared that Coffman was showing Major Canton to the Rinehart mine, and that he was left at the point where the trail joins the railroad track.

Prosecutor Kelly declares absurd the assertion of the defendant that the case is the result of a political plot, or of enmity and says he was exceedingly loath to bring up the charge, spent a day in its verification, and was simply fulfilling the duties of his office, regardless of personalities.

Mr. Canton gave the Mail Tribune the following statement, requesting its publication:

In the issue of the Mail Tribune of yesterday, you saw fit to comment up the charge against me filed by Mr. Kelly, and I presume at his instigation, as it is his usual custom to try his cases in the newspapers, and to say he was a comrade in the Phillipine war, and that I rose from the ranks to major in a crack regiment, and a whole lot of slush, all of which is false except that Mr. Kelly and I served in the signal corps in the islands.

From the evidence taken in the hearing of this case today, it seemed absolutely certain that a grave mistake had been made in reference to me, and that the matter charged and being pushed was done for the purpose of destroying me and my business in this city. It was conclusively shown that I was eating my lunch in Jacksonville at the time that the state's main witness charges I was committing a crime about a half mile from there.